“The aviation industry doesn’t think it’s a great idea. The airline industry sued Chicago to try and prevent expansion there. They said there’s plenty of capacity,” he says.

Ochsenfeld spoke out along rural Eagle Ridge Road, where the main runway is planned. He heads a group called Shut This Airport Nightmare Down, or STAND.

“This is wrong time, the wrong place to even think about project,” he said. “Right now, the state of Illinois is slashing funding for mentally disabled people and other vulnerable people and they want to spend $100 million to build an unneeded airport.”

Will County Executive Larry Walsh thinks it is needed and predicts the federal government will ride to the financial rescue of the project.